Overcoming Vector Challenges: Best Resources & Tips for Practicing

[TrivialPants]

Hello,

I am struggling with vectors, and general problems tagged along with them. How can I get some more practice aside from my book? What are some trusted resources that work well? What is your personal experience with vectors? Are (were) they a challenging obstacle for you? What is the best way to understand them and make sense of using them in physics without resorting to looking up answers online?

 

[Student100]

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors

Try this, has solutions so you can check as you go. Doing problems is the best way to understand anything in physics.

If you can't figure something out, ask the question here. Don't immediately run to the Google search for the answer, you need to take quite a bit of time and try to figure things out on your own.

Here people will help you arrive at the answer, so if stumped just post here in the homework help.

 

[RMalayappan]

I think it depends on what you mean when you say vectors. To me, you could mean anything from fairly basic concepts, like addition, direction and resolution as discussed in introductory physics, to some more advanced vector algebra, like products and projections, to vector calculus. If you mean the first category, then Student100's link is excellent, although even the most basic algebra-based physics courses use the concepts of dot/cross products without explicitly stating it. I learned vector algebra from http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-02sc-multivariable-calculus-fall-2010/1.-vectors-and-matrices/ which is very comprehensive and doesn't even require a knowledge of calculus for the most part. I personally found them somewhat difficult at first, but I only got better through practice. I think the best way to understand them is to work through problems, but only after gaining a fairly comprehensive understanding of them through learning resources first.